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Infamous calls
Rome appreciates good calls, but often he will receive a call that is less than acceptable. However, some infamous calls have gained a life of their own, being frequently referenced by listeners and reset by Rome. Some of these calls include: *'Jeff in C-Bus' - Early in the show of November 18, 2005, on his way to the annual Michigan & Ohio State game, this former Smack-Off contestant declared that Ohio State would win by a score of 27-27. This was believed to be a slip of the tongue, but Jeff (and Ohio State) became the butt of numerous jokes throughout the rest of that day's show. (The Buckeyes got the last laugh, however, winning 25-21.) The following Monday, Jeff called back and claimed that he purposely made his strange call to draw attention away from the game itself, luring the Clones to smack him instead of Ohio State. Despite this, Jeff is still ridiculed by the Clones and by Rome himself, who often replays Jeff's 27-27 prediction. *'Mike in San Diego'- Mike called the show in December 2010 and began with the famous refrain "The Giants win the Pennant. The Giants win the Pennant..." Mike, who was clearly baked on chron at the time, settled in for a four minute burn - basically blowing Rome off his feet. Some highlights: "....without the stems and seeds that you don't need," a Rounding Third reset, and a top notch Bruce Bochy impersonation. To quote Rome: "Como se dice, Rack Him?" *'Patty in Modesto' - She called the show in June 2000, but was too inebriated to have an intelligent conversation. Despite the one phone call, she is still referenced as a watermark for drunkenness to this day. *'Alex in Louisville' - In February 2004, he called in to congratulate Rome on a great interview with NFL player and University of Louisville alum Deion Branch, unaware that the interview had not actually taken place. Rome, knowing that the interview was scheduled for the following hour, asked Alex first if he had heard the interview, and Alex replied "absolutely." After Rome then asked him what he liked best about it, Alex offered a broad statement that "he was just a classy guy." When Rome pushed further for specifics, Alex claimed that he was out job-hunting and had missed most of the interview. Rome then informed him that the reason that he couldn't remember anything from the interview was because "the interview hasn't happened yet!" The show later ended with Branch not calling in at all. *'George in Tampa' - On August 29, 2007, Rome went to a caller, but the caller, named George, was unaware he was on-air. Through the phone, Rome and the listeners heard his entire conversation with woman which Rome deduced was a sales pitch for Omaha Steaks. Rather than running the call, Rome kept it on-air, and commented on his diligence as a salesman, which is a common reset on the program (see "Sales Guy" above). George eventually picked up, and when Rome informed him he had been on-air, George while surprised, was unfettered, and immediately went into a smack-filled take. Rome attempted to derail the call by asking to hear the sales pitch but claim he was a vegetarian. To Rome's (and the Clones') delight, George without hesitation, warded off the diversion insisting he had a "50 pound carrot" in his trunk and finished the take. *'John and Trapper's Tandem Call' - In December 2000, days before Christmas, John in C-Town and Trapper in Dana Point once called the show from the same house, spending most of the call insulting each other. The two were heavily criticized by the Clones, and the call has since become a reference for gay jokes on the show. Perhaps for this reason and perhaps for others, John repented of the encounter with Trapper, and made Trapper the major subject of his 2001 Smack-Off call, which led to him being run, as admitted by Rome. *'Toby in Houston' - In July 3, 2005, he called in to talk about a supposed encounter he had with NBA coach Larry Brown in a gymnasium, saying "...Foot away from my face, dropped his towel. I look over and there's a crank right in my face...Larry Brown." Toby was immediately run, but the call was enough to derail the whole show and eventually won the Huge Call of the Day, much to Rome's chagrin. Due to the total absurdity of the call, Rome has admitted that this was one of the few times he was rattled on the air. It didn't help that it came on the heels of several e-mails that insulted Marlon Brando, who had just died. In recent years, Rome has said that he will not play the call again unless Larry Brown himself asks for it, although Rome's interview guests will occasionally give Toby a shoutout and ask Rome to reset Toby's call. CBS' NFL analyst Boomer Esiason has especially enjoyed trolling Rome with Toby references. And exactly ten years after the original call went down, he ended up having to play back the call after reading a Tweet about the anniversary of that fateful day, and so he did just that; but just before he got to the payoff of the call, he inserted the modern-day buzzer on it and said that the call will never be played again, no matter how much the Clones and various guests want it. However, the day of Kyle Brandt's last day as show producer, July 16, 2016, Kyle at the end of the speech did actually play back the payoff of the call to the Clones' wishes, and Rome ultimately declared him fired as an employee of the program, even though he will come back in some form in the future in closing. *'Callers who don't get the joke' - After Rome made a sarcastic remark about how he would love to have a daughter enter the porn industry, caller Bill in Syracuse chastised Rome, believing him to be serious. Since then, Bill has been associated with any caller or emailer who takes a sarcastic stance of Rome's seriously. Another caller, Tony in Cleveland, fell into this trap by taking Rome's Cockfighting Across America Foundation seriously. Yet another caller is often reset because he didn't get it when Rome compared Glen Rice to Tony Gwynn. Vinny in Indy gained permanent infamy in a December 2013 call when he called Rome a "dweeb" when Rome jokingly put the Saints and Seahawks in the AFC. Larry in Indiana 'also gained infamy in a July 2015 call when he got angry with Rome for "doctoring" audio of a Nick Saban press conference quote. *'Fabian in L.A. - This caller is often referred to as "Flamian" because he promised to have an epic phone call, only to end up "flaming out" in spectacular fashion." Before he could get through the first sentence of his take, he completely lost his train of thought, then said "oh man...okay, okay-" just before getting run. Since then, callers who lose their train of thought frequently end their calls by saying that they are "flaming" and bowing out. Flamian restored his reputation at the 2010 Hack-Off, and has since started calling regularly. Rome has said that Fabian is one of the most notable callers in the show and his famous "ya know, ya know, ya know" is often reset. *'Jim in Fall River' - Jim has participated in several Smack-Offs, but during one Smack-Off call, he became extremely animated and agitated, to the point of actually shouting out his call. Also, shortly after he started his call, a strange sound similar to a donkey braying could be heard in the background. Despite Rome's efforts to get his attention, he continued to shout his take and the animal sound persisted until the call was run. Since then, Jim has been associated with bestiality, and cemented that bad reputation at the 2004 Smack-Off by getting run for an extremely crude sexual smack involving "his donkey." However, Rome has recently commented that Jim in Fall River's take on Yankees' pitcher Andy Petitte's trademark "glare" was one of the most legendary takes in the history of the show. *'"Smack Attack" in Wisconsin' - This caller was on hold for over an hour, and when his turn finally came up to speak with Rome, he yelled into the phone, "AAAHHHHH...my phone bill!" then hung up. The call is mostly remembered because Rome blames that incident for some of his hearing loss. *'Jim Harbaugh' - Harbaugh, at the time quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts, was invited to participate in the 1998 Smack-Off. The Clones considered his call lackluster and pedestrian, but he was not run. *'Iggy in Springfield' - In August 2003 this long-time caller called the program, greeted Rome, then started a prerecorded tape of his take. The sound of a tape player being turned on was clearly recognizable, along with the significant difference in sound quality. He was quickly run, and has not called the show since then. Rome has since speculated on how many of Iggy's prior calls were also prerecorded. In reference to Iggy, callers occasionally announce the local time before starting their take to prove it is not prerecorded. Iggy was the program director of Rome's affiliate in Springfield, Missouri when the call took place. *'Pancho & Tyrone' - During one show circa 1995, a caller claimed to be an African American named Pancho. Rome doubted this, but let the caller go through. A few minutes later, another caller said, in a stereotypical Spanish accent, "Jim, eff he can be Pancho, why can't I be Tyrone?" This is often cited as an example of a caller fooling the phone screener. *'Jason in Ottawa' - This caller said that he once went to a party with "a lot of booze, a lot of bud", and he said he said "if I have to rape a girl to get her into bed, it's not worth it." He was quickly run, and is considered one of the worst takes ever. Jason is also ridiculed for the self description of himself as "one of his football team's star linebackers" as a collegian in Canada during call into the Jungle. *'Tim in Bend' - Normally, Rome does not spend a lot of time ranting about bad calls. However, Tim's call in December 2004 was a notable exception, as Tim brought the show to a halt with a brief call in which he offered a sarcastic thank-you to Rome for an interview he didn't have on the show, and a subsequent insult about Drew Brees' moles. This was enough to send Rome on a six-minute rant. *'Guy Who Had to Eat Lunch with His Wife/Go to a Meeting' - During the summer of 2005, a caller told call screener J-Stew that he had to get on the show because he had to eat lunch with his wife. Rome led into the call saying that if a Clone needed to eat lunch with his wife, that he (Rome) would have his back. However, the caller was run before he could even start his take, and Rome said, "With that kind of lead-in, why would you even stay on the line? You might as well hang up and bail out and avoid ridicule." Rome has also received calls from someone asking to get on the show before a meeting at the caller's workplace is scheduled to begin, and has handled these calls in the exact same fashion, following up with a tirade about how Clones should put their work first and not worry about calling in to a radio show. On June 1, 2009, Lucas in C-Town had to decline when he was put on the phones because he was too busy eating cantaulope. *'Jade in Cincinnati- '''On December 8th of 2005, The Garden was introduced to The Jim Rome Show in response to a caller whose boss said the show was "overly negative". Jade, not knowing what the "garden" rules were opened his call with "Thanks for taking my call, I'm officially creeped out right now". Needless to say, he was run, for not being 100% positive. *'Jerome in Nashville''' - On July 26, 2005, the term BOHICA was coined in a call complaining about Cleveland having no right to talk smack, and claimed Boston was now the City of Champions. The term means "Bend Over, Here It Comes Again". He went out too quick to get run, though the "original buzzer" is added in whenever the call is reset. *'Joey in New Bedford' - On October 27, 2005 he came into the Jungle with a new word, "recepted," believed to be a hybrid of "received" and "accepted." Rome interrupted the call after five minutes of Joey's rants and said he finally "came to" after hearing Joey's language. Although Rome insisted that "recepted" is not an actual word, some have speculated that it may be either some form of Cape Verdean slang or simply a "Chowd" affectation. Joey is an administrator at Stucknut.com where he has his own bowling forum. *'T.J. in Jacksonville' - During a fall 2004 call, T.J. laughed at his own joke, with a "creepy"-sounding "Eh-HEH-heh-HEH-huh!" which became known in the Jungle as "The Laugh." This soundbite is occasionally used to sarcastically emphasize a poor joke, and is one of several soundbites which gets repeated play for comedic effect (see below). He also called Jason Stewart "Jason Stevens." *'Tobin in Chapel Hill' - Tobin has a history of getting run for saying stupid things. The absolute worst example comes on November 3, 2005, when he tripped up in the middle of a call so badly that Rome had no choice but to run him. To this day nobody knows what he was trying to say, but the words "contrast" and "quality" were somehow involved. *'Gary in Vegas' - On April 6, 2006, he told Rome that he did not want to talk about "steroids, or whose mother has cancer" (a reference to then-13-year-old golfer Dakoda Dowd and her mother, a topic on the show that day), and that he had an actual sports take. He went on to proclaim that the Devil Rays' pitching was awful and that the Orioles would beat them that evening, then said, "Rack me!", only to be immediately run. Rome labeled this call as one of the worst ever. Ironically, or perhaps due to "Jungle Karma," the Devil Rays beat the Orioles that night on the strength of a three-hit, complete game 2-0 shutout by pitcher Mark Hendrickson. *'Brad in Detroit' - A few days before the 2005 MLB All-Star Game, Brad called in to rant about Cal Ripken, Jr., claiming that Ripken's Iron Man streak was a "stupid, overrated record," that Ripken was "never good," and that he would pay a million dollars to spray Ripken in the face with a full mace can. In the following weeks, several calls and emails made fun of "Brad in Detroit's lispy voice" and referred to him as "Brandy in Detroit," hinting that he may be gay. Callers also mocked his reference to using mace, traditionally a weapon used by women for self-defense purposes. Rome sometimes resets the call to mock Brad, refusing to believe that he actually meant what he said. Brad has not called the show since. *'Tommy in Detroit' - On April 24, 2006, he attempted to land an invitation to Smack-Off 2006 with a call full of smack against Ohio and Wisconsin. It became memorable less for its content than for the "OORF!" sound he repeatedly made instead of the usual "ERRRRR!" used by Rome and the Clones as a deliberate self-correction. Rome had Tommy run because of this, but was very amused by the call and played up the "walrus sound" (as he dubbed it) in the same fashion as "The Laugh." Dave in Cincinnati emailed the show to dub it the "OORF!" sound. The call even won the Huge Call of the Day. Rome requested that all Clones now begin their calls by making the "walrus sound" instead of clichés such as "first time, long time." This didn't last much past the next show, however, as Rome complained that doing the sound repeatedly was wrecking his voice. Tommy was eventually invited to the 2006 Smack-Off. Tommy returned on March 17, 2009, to take a run at Chad in Portland, limiting his walrus sound to the very end. *'Marty in NoCal' - This caller said that he was a trucker and that he had a buddy with him every day in his truck, and that his buddy was Rome. Marty's comments were appreciated by Rome but were widely perceived as being overly sentimental and cheesy by the Clones, and since then Marty has been a constant source of ridicule in calls and emails, many of which depict Rome and Marty in relationships of one form or another. (However, many listeners have called in to echo Marty's sentiment and support him.) Rome placed a moratorium on references to Marty on June 5, 2007, following an email signoff from Josh in Springfield saying "War Marty chartering a flight so he and Jim can join the mile high club." (Listen to audio clip of the email) *'Julie in Palm Springs' - Julie called on June 19, 2007, and berated Rome (and sports media in general) for a failure to cover positive news stories in sports. Rome and the Clones expressed confusion over her position, the rambling nature of her call, and misuse of the term "hypocritical." Julie has since been a target of ridicule from the Clones, especially when a positive story is covered on the show. On July 30, 2007, Julie called the show again, earning admiration from Rome for returning. After her comments about Michael Vick, and reflecting on her previous call, her experience was compared to Curtis Martin's "positive calls only" incident (see: The Garden). *'Lavelle in Oakland' - On July 18, 2007, Lavelle accused Rome of racism in his analysis of the Michael Vick dog fighting scandal simply because Rome had never talked about how bad dog fighting was before. He said this was just sports journalism's "chance to get back at the 'rich black athlete'". Greg in Vegas called Lavelle's take "the worst take in Jungle history", surpassing even Brad in Detroit wanting to mace Cal Ripken. *'Kevin in Tampa' - On January 7, 2008, after Rome's two-week end of 2007 vacation, Kevin got on the air, and he complimented Rome for being back on the air again after that hiatus, then ironically enough, clowned Roger Lodge (for he was one of the guest hosts in those two weeks) for embracing the New England Patriots, and Kevin said Roger Lodge was "making out with Tom Brady's butthole"; for that he was run and clowned for uttering that vulgar word on the radio, with Rome's reaction being his reset of his interviews with NFLer Steve Smith and golfer Boo Weekly as examples of proper usage of uttering that word on the air. *'"Rosemary" in Houston' - "Rosemary" is a guy who called Rome with his voice disguised as a girl, breaking up Jim Rome's all-female-caller show, which included the likes of Rachel in Houston and Meggan in Sacramento, in late 2008. "Rosemary" was the only guy who got by Jay Stew that day, and was run after giving a particularly gushing "ROMEY YOU ROCK!" out to Rome. As a result, romeyyourock at gmail permanently became the backup email address for the show. *'Callers On 'The Worst Segment Ever"'- After a so-so e-mail contest on March 25, 2009, Rome decided to go to the phones, for it was Smack-Off season at the time, though Rome didn't give the date away yet. First call in was alleged 10-year ex-convict Jason in Denver, who first complimented Rome for his interview with Jeff Pearlman talking about the Roger Clemens fiasco, then went on to give some advice to fellow convicts and first said to blind them permanently by pushing a finger through their eye socket, then said "hang on, hang on..." as if Rome was about to run him right then and there, then gave another piece of advice on that same topic, and he said to throw fecal matter at a fellow convict, and for this he was run; that was followed by Will in Portland, who actually called in before including the previous year, who first went with some smack on singer Clay Aiken's sexual orientation, and followed that with a crack on Smack-Off wannabes aqnd called them "hors d'oeuvres" as if he wanted to resort to cannibalism; for this, he was run and clowned by Rome; however, despite that absolutely sophomoric call, Rome followed that with George in L.A., whose only purpose of his call was a question about the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game because it was spring training at the time, and although he didn't get run unlike the others, his call along with the two before were enough to derail the whole show, and ultimately Rome called that segment the worst segment ever, not just in the Jungle, but in all of radio period in general; that was followed by reaction by Jungle texters, mainly deriding or chastising these callers in various ways; and at the time, Travis Rodgers was the producer of the show, and that segment might have played a big role in having to move on to "bigger and better things" less than three months later. *'Mike in Wichita' - After a year and a half of getting bested in his clone-on-clone feud with Chad in Portland, including several instances of getting run, Mike got his quickest run when he called on March 31, 2009, and suggested that Chad was "hitting the trees harder than Natasha Richardson". The crack almost cost Mike a shot at the 2009 Smack-Off. *'Corey in Buffalo' - This Clone called the show in 2008 to complain about the ridiculousness of having 34 bowl games and said it had gotten to the point where "they should just make a Toilet Bowl." Rome thought the take was amusing and invited Corey to the Smackoff. The Clones then began sending Rome all kinds of bad jokes via e-mail, all signed "Corey in Buffalo". Corey later declined the Smackoff invitation. During the era of the Hackoff, Rome invited Corey to participate, but Corey never called for the Hackoff. *'Brendan in Wilmington' - Brendan was once a regular in the Smack-Off, but fell out of favor on April 23, 2009, for using a stereotypical impression of Tracy McGrady and cracking on his lazy eye. Rome told him that not only was he off the bubble for the 2009 Smack-Off, but he should stop calling for a while, though stopped short of banning him. On November 11, 2009, he got around the call screener as "Barry in Philadelphia", and got run. *'Jolene in Farmington - '''Jolene first called in on July 29, 2008 to respond to a reset on Carl in Rosemead (see below). After struggling with her car radio, she stumbled before finally saying, "going to a party in your sweatpants is like dressing up like your mom." Rome found her statement confusing and absurd and ridiculed her logic. In the very next segment, hundreds of text messages and e-mails showed up ridiculing Jolene. Even Rome's wife, Janet, weighed in by e-mailing her husband's Blackberry saying, "She sounded ten." Jolene later appeared in the first three Hackoffs, winning the 2012 event and earning a bid to the Smackoff, where she became the only Hackoff winner not to get run in the Smackoff. *'Vinny Mac in Des Moines''' - In May of 2009 shortly after the 2009 Smackoff, Vinny Mac called and after taking a good game off air to Jason Stewart, Vinny Mac's on air call consisted of calling other clones "double talking jive turkeys" and that they were about to get their "asses rag-dolled" all while stumbling and breathing heavily throughout the entire take. In addtion Vinny Mac claimed that he was "the bottle on the top shelf" and was shortly run therafter for not being ready to perform on the air. Vinny Mac is now considered the new standard for flaming in the Jungle. Interestingly enough, another caller, Dan in Shenandoah, finished a decent call by quoting Vinny Mac, and revealed himself as Vinny Mac's brother. He was glossed Danny Mac by Rome. *'Ryan in Wichita - '''Ryan is the Jungle biggest self-professed "asshat". He initially made a name for himself as a texter when he was banned for life from texting the show for sending a text making a joke about the John F. Kennedy assassination. A few days later, he called the show claiming he wanted to apologize, but once on the air, he glossed call screener Jason Stewart as "Rocky Dennis" and then made a joke about Mark Mangino's obesity with a classic "I'M GOING TO BURGER KING!!!". He was run and blocked from calling. Jim has since let him back into the Jungle, but he continues to make irresponsible calls. He appeared in all four Hackoffs and was voted as "Most likely to get run in the Hackoff" each year the event was held, although he shocked everyone, including himself, by finishing his 2011 Hackoff call. In 2011, Rome made it clear that Ryan was only allowed to call during the Hackoff until he wins the Hackoff. However, substitute host Kyle Brandt has occassionally allowed Ryan on the air, and since the cancellation of the Hackoff, Rome has lifted the moratorium on Ryan calling. *'Matt in Cleveland:' Matt was invited to the show's second-annual "Hackoff" on April 1, 2011. After he got off a decent opening line, he stumbled, randomly stammering out "Kirstie Alley...Val Kilmer...Global Warming..." before finally getting run. The call was so bad that Rome couldn't stop laughing over it. Matt's soundbytes have since been used as fodder for humorous effect. Interestingly, Matt was followed in the Hackoff by Vinny Mac in Des Moines, who rose to Jungle fame over a similarly bad call two years earlier. *'Fake Silk: The day before the 2013 Smack-Off, Silk in Huntington Beach RSVPed to the Smack-Off, indicating that there was a 50-50 chance that he might be able to participate. The day of the Smack-Off (June 14th, 2013), an imposter called in masquerading as Silk. He got on the air, but his call lasted less than a minute before Rome ran him. Since then, whenever the real Silk calls, Rome has had to add the disclaimer, "This is the real Silk, not the fake Silk". Later in August, the Fake Silk returned and came clean as '''Tim in Portland and said he hoped Rome would invite him to the 2014 Smackoff on his own merits. Rome ran him again, saying that Fake Silk was better than the Real Tim. *'Tom in Detroit: '''On October 3, 2013, Tom, a pharmaceutical representative in Detroit, got on the air and talked about the fact that he watched the NFL coverage coming from Cleveland and was amazed at the number of overweight and unattractive people he has seen there, and he said that there will be a drug to help them, and cracked on Cleveland people for being that, and he laughed like a five year old at the end of his call. For this he gets run, and Rome reprimanded him and came close to banning him from the show, though he didn't. Instead, he went on another of his rants. It didn't help that it came on the heels of the first Jon Gruden fat jokes from the Clones, calling him "Jon Fooden, Jon Grubbin'", among others. * '''Fred in Temecula: '''On October 14, 2013, this caller came in with a parody of the viral music video "What Does The Fox Say"; his parody was "What Did John Fox Say". Rome ran him, but after replaying it it a few more times, he came to appreciate Fred's creativity and regretted running him. Rome awarded him Huge Call at the end of the show, and told him that ought to be his walk-off shot. *"Charlie in Lawrence": ''On November 12, 2013, at the request of the Clones, Rome decided to allow personal appearance smack as show fodder in honor of 11-12-13 starting at 11:12:13 am PST. The very last caller in this segment was "Charlie in Lawrence" - someone impersonating Kansas football coach Charlie Weis, saying he wanted "two buckets of 'Jungle Caramel'", that he rolled to a Jack-In-The-Box drive-thru and said "I'll take it" after looking at the menu, and warred drinking cake batter and maple syrup from a glass. After hanging up, Rome was totally speechless for about ten seconds before he put an end to the appearance smack segment. Much to Rome's dismay, the Clones loved "Charlie in Lawrence" and his "Jungle Caramel" blast. At the end of the show, Rome reluctantly gave "Charlie in Lawrence" Huge Call and vowed never again to allow appearance smack as show fodder. *'Brice in Charlotte: '''In lieu of the Warren Buffett-Dan Gilbert NCAA Bracket Challenge, Rome offered to give his show to any Clone who could get racked 12 segments in a row. Brice in Charlotte got racked on his first call by dropping a "Kaeper-Nickel" blast on 49ers star Colin Kaepernick. But the next day, when Rome let him on, he made jokes about Peyton Manning's protruding forehead and went off on a reset on Pinky and the Brain. For this he was run and clowned, with Rome spending the following segment imagining what might have been had the Jim Rome Show become the Brice in Charlotte Show. *'Dan in Denver: In April 2014 Dan in Denver began calling the show hoping for a shot at the Golden Ticket to Smackoff XX. After not being put through soon enough to his liking, Dan called out Rome for "protecting Mark in Hollywood" and vowed to run his name into the dirt if given the chance. Rome gave Dan a shot a couple segments later. The call was clearly scripted, and lacked a general take or direction. Dan made it through the quiet, lame call without getting run, and said "Dan in Denver - Remember the name", before slaming his 1960s style phone back onto the receiver. Afterwards Rome gave the call a C-, and the Clones killed Dan through Twitter, e-mail, and phone calls. Rome racked every take on Dan, and the call jumped the weekend. *"Mike in Palookaville": After one of Lance in Topeka's calls, this guy called, claiming to be Lance's father. He mocked Lance with a parody of "Yankee Doodle Dandy", said he thought the Glen Miller band was "swingin'", said that he had no idea who the band "Journey" was but said he took a journey on a stagecoach and said it was the "bees' knees." Rome actually thought this caller was closer to ripping a Golden Ticket to the Smackoff than Lance was. *'''Justin in Huntingon Beach: '''On a show devoted to the 20th anniversary of beginning of the O.J. Simpson saga, Justin in Huntington Beach called the show claiming that he had an encounter with Simpson and his new girlfriend at a golf course and actually played golf with him after the trial. Rome responded by joking that he had played racquetball with Charles Manson. Most of the rest of the show was taken up with e-mails and Tweets from the Clones making claims about playing various sports and games with infamous murderers and criminals. * '''Eric in Albequerque: '''On a day when the topic of homosexuality in the NFL was a hot topic, this caller said that homosexuality was a disease, saying that homosexuals could pretend to be straight, whereas black people can't pretend to be white people or Down's Syndrome patients can't pretend to be normal. Rome denounced this take as one of the worst takes ever, if not the worst. * '''Mike in Detroit: '''In a week of bad calls, this caller asserted that Ray Rice might have had justification for assaulting his fiancee in an elevator. This call was regarded as offensive and ignorant by many of the listeners. * '''Andrew in Madison: On August 29, 2014, Rome took a call from Andrew in Madison, WI. As he began his take, Rome, suspecting the call was scripted, claimed that he had a bad connection and asked Andrew to repeat what he said. Andrew went back the very beginning of his script, word-for-word. Rome ran him and declared the call a signature Jungle moment, the epitome of scripted calls. * Bob in Richmond: '''This caller made his mark on October 28, 2014 with a parody of Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler". The parody was notable for him snapping his fingers and inserting some "Oh Yeahs!" into the call. As happens with most parody calls, he was run. Rome chided him for the call, and the Clones reacted with as much disdain for Bob's call as for a Lance in Louisville/Topeka call. The main reason why he got run, other than the decision of him making the call itself, was for he was apologizing for a call he made exactly 10 years before that he figured was a bad call, when in reality it wasn't that bad after all, for he didn't actually get run; Rome only jumped in on him to respond to what he said that day. * '''Matt in L.A.: '''On February 11, 2015, Rome took a call from Matt in L.A. He called in twice before earlier that week, but he made his mark when he first greeted Rome in his normal voice, then changed it to a Big Bopper impression "HELLOOOOO JIMMY!!!!" and so he got run before he can even get to his take, and Rome did a two-minute tirade on the fact that the Clones should all stick to sports or other takes that he has brought up and not worry about creativity of any kind in any context, whether song parodies, voice impressions, etc. Needless to say, he was run, for not playing it straight about the greeting. He gained infamy once again less than a year later on January 5, 2016 when Rome went to him, but he didn't know he was on-air; instead Rome and the listeners heard his conversation with another man, which Rome deduced that he was a plumber; he kept him on for at least two minutes until Rome had to run him because he was up against the end-of-hour break, unlike the aforementioned George in Tampa, who answered after Rome kept his conversation with his customer on. * '''The Lance and Rob Tandem Call: '''Lance in Topeka (formerly Louisville) was known for song parodies, and Rob in Cleveland was known for glossing himself "The Grump" and getting run. But on September 2, 2015, they made a horrible tandem call that involved the two of them sputtering barbs at each other before firing off incest and gay blasts at each other before getting run. Rome and the Clones dubbed it the worst moment in the history of the show and of human communication. At the show's end, Rome awarded Lance and Rob the Huge Call and indicated that it was highly unlikely the two of them would ever get on the air again, individually or together, though he stopped short of the lifetime ban. The call was subsequently glossed "Callpocalypse" by Rome and the Clones (or, as Vinnie Mac in Des Moines renamed it, "Callmageddon"). * '''Jim in Buffalo: '''In the aftermath of an incident where TCU football players were arrested for stealing cheap beer, this caller called to suggest that they were tired of high quality liquor and went with cheap beer based on a song from forty years prior called "Beans Taste Fine" (that caller said it was recorded by The Brothers Four, a folk group that was well known in the 1960s, but the version that was played on the show that day was the version by well-known songwriter and author Shel Silverstein, and it turned out to be the original version of the song). According the song, beans taste good to people who get tired of steak. Rome ripped him for making reference to old songs like Lance in Topeka, and called that one of the worst ever on the show. It triggered a slew of e-mails and Tweets from the Clones over the next few weeks in reference to the call. * '''Parody Larry: '''Larry in San Francisco, better known as Parody Larry, has built his brand on singing parodies of theme songs to television programs from the 1960s and 1970s. But his most infamous call came on November 4, 2015, when, after a Camptown Races parody about Game 5 of the Royals-Mets World Series, he glossed Rob the Grump in Cleveland "the Dump" and Lance in Topeka "Flatu-Lance". This call set into motion the events of the next day described below. * '''Flatu-Lance in Topeka - Parody singer Lance in Topeka, known for his Sedak-Attacks, was on thin ice after his tandem call with Rob in Cleveland. After being glossed "Flatu-Lance" by Parody Larry in San Francisco, Lance called on November 5, 2015 to go after Larry with a parody, and opened by telling Larry, "I'm going to fart in your face with the music of the Four Tops!" He was immediately run before he could start his song. After the buzzer, an infuriated Rome needed several seconds to collect himself before he ripped into Lance and told him never to call the program again, though Rome later relented and has allowed Lance back in starting in April 2016. Because the call came at the end of the program, the full scale of the Clones' reaction was not made known, although it was revealed the following day that Smackoff winners Mike in Indy and Mark in Hollywood were among those who found the call hilarious. Kyle Brandt admitted to Rome that it was the hardest he had ever laughed at anything on the show, and Boomer Esiason began his interview the next day with references to the call. * Mark in Chicago: 'Although this caller got on the air twice before in November 2015 to crack on Rob in Cleveland, a.k.a. "The Grump", he gained infamy on December 18, 2015 when he called to crack on Rob yet again with many old, worn-out references including GED smack on him, and he followed that with some hybrid defecation/ flatulence smack on Mark in Hollywood; for this he was run and ripped by Rome for making the entire call; and interestingly enough, only about half an hour after that disaster of a call, he e-mailed Rome and told him that the call he made was "finely crafted" and he was ready to save some of that material for the coming 2016 Smack-Off, and at the bottom of the e-mail he sent he wrote, "Unwar the guy at work who says 'See you next year!' on the last day of work before New Year's!" For all that Rome ripped him yet again for thinking such an unbelievably regrettable call could be Smack-Off material and making reference to things predating Rome's thoughts of ever being on the airwaves like Lance in Topeka did with most of his calls, and said Mark wouldn't be in the Smack-Off this coming year, though Rome stopped short of banning him outright. *'Paul in the Bay Area - On February 29, 2016, this caller got on the air and said the old "first time, second time" first, then said a so-so take about Steph Curry and then in his second take which was about Johnny Manziel and his fall from grace due to his drinking problem, said that there was a song released long before anybody has ever heard of the man called "Party All The Time" (actually, the song itself is about a man whose girlfriend is a big party animal), then he ended his call with "love your show, man", not knowing that he humiliated Rome with that last take. He got run even after he hung up the phone for that bit of lip service to the Jungle, and because the song was actually released 30 years prior (released by Eddie Murphy in 1985) and Rome knew it was a bad song, and he broke down how bad the song was and did a two-minute tirade on exactly why he doesn't take as many calls as probably every other talk show host on the continent, sports or otherwise (for that call happened in the final segment of the show, and that day's episode was call-free until that call; Rome did the same with many other bad calls over the years); however, it triggered a slew of e-mails and Tweets over the coming days in reference to the call. However, less than a week later on March 11, the day Johnny Manziel got fired and Rome talked about it in the opening segment, when he occasionally got one of those e-mails in reference to that call, Rome actually said that song really did sum up the caller's topic very well, though Johnny wasn't even born on the song's actual release. And also on March 14, only three days later, 2014 Smack-Off co-champ Mike in Indy called in one of Rome's pop quizzes about a lame urination joke via e-mail to guess who the e-mail's faux sender was, he broke out into a parody of the song about college football player Najeh Davenport and his abnormal bowel movements, singing "Najeh wants to potty all the time, potty all the time..." and for this he got run, and ruthlessly criticized him for doing this, though stopped short of taking him off the Smack-Off list and stripping him of his Smack-Off co-win right then and there. *'Chris from The North' - On May 16, 2016, this caller told the call screener that he will become the King of Smack before the actual event will happen, for Rome announced the Smack-Off date less than two weeks before, and it was going to be, as he said, on July 1, and the Canadian Clones were sending e-mails and Tweets referencing the fact that it was coincidentally going to be on Canada Day, so Rome announced thereafter that he wanted Canadian representation into the Smack-Off. So this caller got on the air, and what happened was that he uttered Rome's first name at least a hundred times and later on in the call, there was a slight ring of a bell every time the name "Jim" got uttered. For this, he got run even after he hung up the phone, then Rome clowned him, and the call jumped the day (for it happened in the last segment of the show, and there was an interview scheduled at the time of the call which did happen). Needless to say, he was run for uttering the host's name way too much. *'Matt in WA' - On May 24, 2016, this caller got on the air, and actually said that he was unaware he was on the air, so Rome first said that he will put Matt on hold, then he ran him, and clowned him for not being ready, and thus instead Rome went to one of his takes. Needless to say, he was run for being hesitant about his airtime on the Jungle. *'Tyler in Edmonton '- With Smack-Off XXII scheduled for July 1, 2016 (Canada Day), Tyler in Edmonton called on June 9, 2016 to bid for a Golden Ticket and to represent Canada in the event. He made offensive remarks about Chad in LA being a lab rat used for testing cancer cures and said that Chad would eventually succumb to his disease unlike Trapper in Dana Point (who was battling cancer at the time). Rome ran him and reprimanded him for making light of cancer and told him he would never be allowed in the Smack-Off. The call also discouraged Rome from looking for Canadian representation in the Smack-Off. However, since that disaster of a call, he has redeemed himself with a couple of racked calls. *'Kyle in Green Bay' - On November 15, 2016, this caller got on the air, and instantly in the greeting he uttered several random names before finally settling in and asking Rome the rhetorical question of "How's it going?" He got run and clowned immediately at that question, and it triggered a slew of e-mails, Tweets and even calls in response to this one, which jumped the day; needless to say, he got run for not getting the host's name right, let alone more than once. The segment after the call happened, a Clone e-mailing the show told Rome to slow the call down so that the Clones can actually hear which names he uttered which Rome did, and it turned out to be the names "Drew, "John", "Jump-Man", and "Guillot", and in the intro to the third hour the day after (because Rome reset the call again when another caller clowned Kyle) the announcer said "this is the Drew Jump-Man Guillot Show on CBS Sports Radio" as a result of the aforementioned call getting Rome's name totally wrong. However, on December 1, just over two weeks after that disaster, he called again and called Rome "Drew The Jump-Man Skillet" instead of the original set of names, and went with a so-so NFL take, and Rome clowned him again for not sticking to the original names, though Rome reacted to Kyle's take generically. Banned callers It is extremely rare for a Clone to have a call that is so offensive that it prompts Rome to request that they never call the show again. Typically getting banned requires particularly intolerant or racist takes. Indeed, there are only ten callers that have reached that level of infamy. *'C.L. in Los Angeles' - In 2000, this caller asked Rome if he had seen an e-mail from him about Rudy Galindo having HIV, and read his e-mail, "Dear Jim, Shocked to hear about Rudy. Signed, Greg Luganis, Richard Simmons, Charles Nelson Reilly-" At that point he was run, and an outraged Rome called him "a straight up, bona fide jackass" and told him never to call the show ever again. *'James in Jacksonville' '- '''In 2000, following a Jim Rome Tour Stop in Jacksonville, Florida, James called the show claiming to be a psychic and made a prediction that there would be a new United States President before Bill Clinton's term was scheduled to end. He then went on rambling incoherently about his predictions. Rome ran him and declared that James would never be allowed on the air ever again. He then ripped Jason Stewart, who at the time was new to the job as call screener, for allowing James to get through. *'Marty in Dallas''' - In the wake of the Dallas Mavericks signing center Wang Zhizhi in 2001, he fired off a barrage of indecipherable, stereotypical "Engrish" gibberish and was immediately run. In another call in 2001, he claimed that Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki had held a press conference to explain why he had "Ichiro" on the back of his jersey. He then proceeded to mimic the supposed press conference with more "Engrish" and was run again, with Rome telling him never to call again and chewing out J-Stew on-air for letting him on the second time. Emailers still frequently sign any approval-of-racism message with "Marty in Dallas." *'Al in Knoxville' - On October 31, 2001, this caller, after being on hold an hour and forty minutes, began his call by saying he was going to pull some "fresh, tantalizing fruit for the clitorious Clones to go orgasmic with." Rome denounced the phrase as "utterly horrible" and told him not only to never to call the show again, but to never even listen again. Because the call came so late in the program, there was no time to read any reaction from the Clones, but the reaction that came in caused the e-mail server to crash as a result. *'Willie in K.C.' - Willie was a regular caller in the early 2000s who often broke into song parodies during his calls, including the oft-reset "Cablinasian the Friendly Ghost" smack on Sean the Cablinasian. He was also a top-10 caller in the 2003 Smack-Off, and was known for his hatred of anything St. Louis, which he called "St. Louise". Willie was permanently banned from the show after one call contained obvious and crude anti-Semitic references. This came on the heels of another call where he was run for referencing a "bowel movement" and "milk mustache" after Thanksgiving. After the call was run, it was obvious that Rome (who is, incidentally, of Jewish descent himself) was infuriated, even after a rebound call from Silk, who started his call pleading that it was Willie, not himself, that made the references. Willie's call became the topic of the show, with other Clones denouncing him, including Jeff "bumping around on a car phone" in Phoenix (also Jewish) and Dark Gable, an old-school email legend. In 2004, Willie attempted to be reinstated to the Jungle by calling the show to apologize for making the offensive remarks. As soon as he completed his short apology (which many listeners considered contrived) he attempted to stage one of his calls, at which time Rome cut him off. Rome allowed the remainder of the day's callers and emailers to vote on the matter, and the decision was made to uphold the ban. Mike in Wichita has frequently championed Willie's reinstatement. Willie made two additional attempts to be reinstated on May 11 and June 9, 2016; as of the end of the June 9 program, Rome is still undecided about whether or not to bring him back. *'Ray in K.C.' - Ray is infamous for a particularly homophobic "take" regarding homosexuals in sports, in which he declared that he would not take his sons to any more baseball games or let them watch games on TV to keep them from seeing "big old gay guys prancing around" at the ballpark. Rome immediately ran him and effectively banned him from the program. Clones still occasionally send in "Ray in K.C." emails mocking Ray's infamous call. *'Mike in K.C.'- Mike is known for making an racially insensitive call in August of 2004 when he referred to Chicago and St.Louis to having " More black people than a Tarzan flick" he was immediately run and was told to never to call the show again. He is mentioned along with Marty in Dallas and Willie in K.C. when someone makes a racially insensitive remark and Kansas City was sometimes glossed by clones as KKK.C. (referring to the notorious KKK group). *'Carl in Rosemead' - On October 5, 2007, Carl called Rome and said that LeBron James wearing a New York Yankees hat to a Cleveland Indians playoff game was the worst idea since "showing up to a party with a boner in sweatpants". He was immediately run. He is frequently warred in calls and e-mails about bad ideas. Rome resents the Clones' infatuation with Carl and has made it clear that Carl will never be allowed to call the show again. He frequently refers to him with such names as "idiot", "jackass", "jerk", "pinhead", etc. *'Jack in Sacramento' - In June 2009, this caller appeared on the show and opened with the question, "What's up with this cloudy weather?" An irritated Rome ran him and went on a ten-minute rant about "Weather-Question Guy" - the guy who talks about the weather because he has nothing else to say. Rome then told Jack to never call again and chastised Jason Stewart for letting Jack through. The Clones then sent e-mails deriding or chastising Jack. *'Jake in East Lansing' - On March 6, 2015, the day after actor Harrison Ford crashed his plane and survived despite suffering injuries, the Jim Rome Show was literally flooded with e-mails and Tweets making jokes about the crash. So this caller got on, and said Ford "refused to get in the John Denver memorial, because he was still alive," referencing singer John Denver's 1997 plane crash death. Although Rome didn't technically run him (because the modern-day buzzer was too facetious for this kind of call), he still tore into him, and not only effectively ban him from the program completely (not only he can't contribute, he can't listen either), but effectively said that caller needed to rethink his own life and look himself in the mirror (in other words, Rome effectively told him to not listen to any radio program of his genre or any other mindless entertainment for that matter), and said Rome's IQ dropped since taking the call.